Microprocessor Watch

Editor: Michael Slater
Contributors: Linley Gwennap, Keith Diefendorff, Peter Glaskowsky

In This Issue:

• Intel Demos Merced
• Intel Discloses Merced Chip Set
• Compaq Dumps NT for Alpha
• NGIO, Future I/O Merge
• SGI Reorganizes, Allies With Nvidia

Intel Demos Merced

At the Intel Developers Forum, just two weeks after first silicon, Intel demonstrated two Merced systems, one running a 64- bit version of Windows 2000 and the other running Linux and the Apache Web server. The company did not disclose the clock speed of the chip, but it seems to have raised its performance estimates from a year ago: Merced is now shown as exceed Foster's performance rather than just matching it. --M.S.

Intel will disclose the Merced microarchitecture at Microprocessor Forum on October 5. Register today at http://www.MDRonline.com/mpf.

Intel Discloses Merced Chip Set

The 460GX, Intel's first chip set for Merced, is designed for high-end workstations and servers with up to four processors. It is similar in structure to Intel's current high-end chip set, the 450NX, but has twice as many physical chips for pin-count reasons. The Merced chip set supports up to 64G of memory with 4.2 Gbytes/s of peak bandwidth. Intel did not disclose the memory type; we expect the chip set to use four banks of PC133 SDRAM.

The new chip set supports up to four 64-bit PCI buses or eight 32-bit PCI buses. Both the memory and I/O systems are designed for high-reliability systems. The company did not announce pricing or availability. We expect versions of the chip set to range from $200 to over $400 with availability in time for the planned mid-2000 launch of the Merced processor. --L.G.

Compaq Dumps NT for Alpha

Finally admitting that Alpha has no chance on the desktop, Compaq pulled the plug on Windows NT for that platform. With new CEO Michael Capellas looking for areas to cut costs, the 100 employees supporting NT on Alpha were an obvious target. Despite that fact that the 64-bit version of NT is being developed on Alpha systems, that code will not be sold as a product; instead, Microsoft will deploy 64-bit NT (aka Windows 2000) solely on IA- 64. Compaq continues to develop and support Alpha processors for its in-house Unix and VMS operating systems, but with a new cost- cutting CEO, the company's long-term support for Alpha remains questionable. --L.G.

NGIO, Future I/O Merge

In a surprise conclusion to more than six months of contention, Intel’s NGIO effort and the competing Future I/O architecture have been merged to form a unified standard for next-generation I/O, initially on servers. The new System I/O initiative is supported by Intel, Microsoft, and five major system OEMs. System I/O will use a physical layer much like that of NGIO, consisting of one or more pairs of 2.5-Gbit/s unidirectional links. Initial implementations are expected to include one, four, and twelve pairs, for up to 6 GBytes/s of bandwidth. Version 1.0 of the System I/O specification is due out by the end of the year, and products are expected in 2001. --P.N.G.

SGI Reorganizes, Allies With Nvidia

In its latest restructuring, SGI is backing away from its recently introduced Windows NT workstation effort, separating its Cray supercomputer unit, and transferring a key 3D engineering group to Nvidia. Though it has been just eight months since SGI introduced its NT-based Visual Workstation systems, the company now plans to create a joint venture with an as-yet-unnamed PC maker to develop and market these machines. SGI intends to retain its NT-based servers, including the SGI 1400 family announced last month, as well as forthcoming servers based on Intel’s Profusion chip set (see MPR 8/23/99, p. 22).